Job Shadowing

Are you looking for a new career but unclear on the direction you would like to go? Are you wanting to pursue a post-secondary education but not sure what career appeals to you? Job shadowing can be an excellent way to learn about a professional’s day-to-day responsibilities and decide whether their career appeals to you and aligns with your values and beliefs. It can also provide valuable opportunities to network with professionals in your chosen field.

A job shadowing experience allows you to explore a specific career of interest by observing an employee perform their work duties at their place of employment. The experience should provide realistic career information that will help you in making a career choice.

Job shadowing can provide enough information about the new and different job to alleviate fear of the unknown and to get a bigger picture of most of the requirements of the position. For example, I had a client who loved to spend time with seniors; she enjoyed listening to their stories and asking questions, organizing arts and crafts and helping them with chores. She was positive that being a Health Care Aide would be the perfect position for her! She met with a Health Care Aide at a senior’s facility, shadowed her for the day and realized that there were some aspects of the job she wasn’t sure she could do. One day of job shadowing helped with her career decision. This client is still in the helping field but in a different position.

Tips for a Successful Experience

Before you arrive for your job-shadowing experience, be clear on all the details. Be sure to confirm time to arrive, location, what to wear and anything else you may need to bring.

Do your research! Know as much about the company as possible. Jot down some notes and questions to ask. This will create a good impression, it will show initiative and help you learn more from the experience. At the end of the day shake hands, maintain eye contact, thank every person for their time and ask for their business cards. Sending them a personal thank you or email after you’re done shadowing can make a strong final impression.

You might have had a great job shadowing experience but realized that this is not the career for you. Stay positive and professional! You have made some great contacts.

 

Using Myers-Briggs to Explore and Understand Career Interests

If you are endeavoring to choose a career or assess your preferred work activities the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI can be a valuable tool in your research. At The Career Centre all staff members have taken the MBTI and two are certified to help you find your best fit.

The MBTI is a tool for self-awareness and gives us a common language to use when we talk about preferences.  We each have a preferred way for how we gain energy, gather information, make decisions and show up in the world.  Together this information forms a 4 letter code like the ones below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Type does not measure skills, abilities, training, or motivation or any other reason someone might choose a particular occupation. But there do tend to be trends for people with certain preferences being drawn to certain professions.   According to Isabel Briggs Myers in Introduction to Type one of the ways to explore these trends is to look at the middle two letters of your preferences or the columns of the type table.

ST’s Focus on: Facts
Handle these by applying: objective analysis and experience
Tend to Become: Practical and analytical
Find Scope for these interests using: Technical Skills with objects and facts
ST’s are attracted to careers in:

• Applied science
• Business
• Administration
• Banking
• Law enforcement
• Production
• Construction

SF’s Focus on: Facts
Handle these by applying: personal warmth, concern for others
Tend to Become: Sympathetic and friendly
Find Scope for these interests using: Practical help and services for people
SF’s are attracted to careers in:

• Health care
• Community service
• Teaching
• Supervision
• Religious service
• Support services
• Sales

NF’s focus on: Possibilities
Handle these by applying: Attention to people’s potential
Tend to Become: Insightful and enthusiastic
Find Scope for these interests using: Understanding and encouraging people
NF’s are attracted to careers in:

• Psychology
• Human resources
• Teaching
• Research
• Literature
• Religious service
• Health care
• Art and music

NT’s focus on: Possibilities
Handle these by applying: Theoretical concepts and systems
Tend to Become: Logical and analytical
Find Scope for these interests using: Theoretical and technical framework
NT’s tend to be attracted to careers in:

• Physical science
• Research
• Management
• Computers
• Law
• Engineering
• Technical work

If you would like to learn more about how understanding your personality type can impact your career decision making, please speak to an employment consultant about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

 

Cold Calling

While it may seem to be a daunting task to pick up the phone and call someone about a position that they may or may not have, a lot of good can come from that first call. The worst that can happen is they say no and you have only invested a few minutes, but think of the better outcomes!

• Employers may not have time to post jobs, sort resumes, then interview and hire. By making the call you are exhibiting a lot of the qualities an employer may be looking for:
  • Initiative
  • Can do attitude
  • Determination
  • No fear of rejection (very applicable for a sales position)
•  If you wait for a position to be posted at your favourite company, how many other people will be waiting for the same job posting?
• Getting your resume in before positions are posted can result in less competition for the job if one exists.

Be prepared with questions you may have about the company, as you are interviewing them as well.  Do some research and don’t ask obvious questions that you can get the answers to from their website.  Keep track of who you are speaking with in case they ask you to send them a resume.  This way you can address the cover letter to your new contact.  If they are not hiring at the present time, ask for names of others in the industry that might be.

 

If you are spending time on Facebook anyway, why not use some of that time to build a professional identity and access the hidden job market at the same time.

The key to remaining connected with friends and family as well as professional networks on Facebook without compromising your job search is to classify your ‘friends’.  This will require a little time, effort and patience but can provide promising leads.  If you aren’t currently searching for a new job, it is still a good strategy to build your network before you need it.

Employers troll for candidates online to either find someone with the skills they are looking for or to screen candidates.  You’ll want to make sure they only see what you want them to see.  You can become ‘friends’ with someone who works at a company you are interested in but you don’t have to let them see your weekend shenanigans.

How you appear online is an important consideration when looking for work.  Learning how to use privacy settings in Social Media is vital in order to control who can see what you are sharing.  Facebook has tools that make it easier to control who you share your content with.  You can even see how your profile appears to others. Facebook created this detailed guide on how manage all your privacy settings.

Polish Up Your Profile and Clean your News Feed

First, polish up your profile for your job search audience and only include information that is relevant to prospective employers and professional colleagues.  Your profile has sections for you to list professional skills, workplaces and schools you have attended. Facebook can then start showing you potential connections that may be influential in your job search and provide recommendations, tips and leads for you.

Secondly, you will want to lock down or delete any content you have posted that you would not want your professional contacts or prospective employers to see.  It can be time consuming to go back and delete it all, but you do have other options.  Start fresh or use the handy tool in Facebook that allows you to limit all your old posts.

REMEMBER:  Your profile and cover picture are always public!  You can only control which picture you use, not who can see them.

Create a LIST for Your Professional Contacts

Social recruiting and screening candidates is a growing online trend.  If you want to jump on board to take advantage of this trend, expand your online professional network and include contacts that may be helpful in your job search.  Facebook offers an option every time you post a status update, upload a picture or edit your profile to decide who can see it.  You may be familiar with the ‘friends’ and ‘friends of friends’ category, however, you can create other lists as well.  To assist in your job search, you may want to create a ‘work’ or ‘professional’ list.  When you add a new professional contact, add them to this list.  Facebook provides detailed instructions on how to add friends to a list.

Restricting your Content

Once you have a new list, you have better control of who sees your posts.  When posting, select the sharing options dropdown, ‘more options’ and then ‘custom’.  Your new list will be shown as an option, add the list to either the ‘share this’ or ‘don’t share this’ box.

To make sure it’s all working the way you want, use the “Who can see my stuff” feature and view your profile as if you were one of these new professional contacts.

To learn more about using Social Media in your Job Search, come to our “Using Social Media for Your Job Search” workshop.